Facial recognition system

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of a facial recognition system are provided. In one embodiment, a processor determines a value for a lighting parameter associated with a captured facial image, determines whether any previously obtained images in a biometric database includes a similar value for the lighting parameter and, if not, stores the newly captured image in the database along with the lighting parameter value. In another embodiment, the processor calculates a score indicative of the likelihood that the face in the captured facial image is identical to the face of a previously obtained image in the database, determines whether the score exceeds a threshold value and, if so, generates a signal indicating a match. The processor adjusts the threshold based on one or more parameter values.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of claims the benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/739,924 filed on Dec. 26, 2017 which is anational phase of PCT/US2016/040580 filed on Jun. 30, 2016 and claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/187,003 filed onJun. 30, 2015, the entire contents of these priority applications areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND a. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of automated facialrecognition used to validate the authorized user of an entitlement. Inparticular, the present disclosure relates to the fast and simpleassociation of a human face with an entitlement such as a theme parkticket and the subsequent use of facial recognition to validate that thesame person is using the entitlement in order for a service provider toascertain that they are delivering a service or a good to the correctentitlement holder.

b. Background

Many organizations in the entertainment industry sell tickets or otherforms of entitlements. Although all forms of entitlements are subject tosome form of fraud, theme park tickets are particularly vulnerable tofraud because they are not limited to a single seat or otherrestriction. For example, in a sports stadium if one person had a ticketand made a copy of the ticket and gave it to a friend, they could notboth sit in the same seat so there would be no benefit. Further, when aticket for a specific seat is scanned and used for entrance, the stadiumcan track that that specific ticket has already been redeemed and ifsomeone else were to arrive and attempt to redeem a replica of theticket the stadium operator could prevent the duplicate entitlement frombeing used. For this reason, tickets for sporting events or concerts arefrequently transferable, meaning that the owner of a ticket is free togive or sell a ticket to whomever they wish as long as it has not yetbeen used.

Theme parks tickets are normally non-transferable for a variety ofreasons. Theme park tickets are typically valid for multiplere-admissions during a single day and are often valid for multipleadmissions over multiple days. Further, theme park tickets are normallypriced to be more expensive the first time they are used but if multipledays are purchased the price of each additional day goes downdramatically. Therefore, fraudsters have an incentive to purchasetickets with longer terms of validity and to sell tickets to others ifthe tickets have remaining validity. Because of the high price of themepark tickets, the incentive to share or sell tickets is greater for afraudster and the potential damage to the theme park operator is alsogreater. Therefore, theme park operators have a great need to ensurethat the tickets that they sell as non-transferrable are only redeemableby one person per ticket.

Traditionally, in the theme park industry, biometric finger scans areused the first time a theme park ticket is used to capture arepresentation of the identity of the ticket holder and then wheneverthe same ticket is redeemed again another finger scan is performed todetermine whether the finger scan matches the finger scan that was takenwhen the ticket was first used. Although this method of authenticationhas been effective in reducing the amount of fraud, it has severalsignificant problems. The largest problem is that only approximately 93%of people are able to consistently perform valid finger scans. Somepeople have difficulties because they perform manual labor that wears onthe tips of their finger tips and makes their fingers more difficult toscan. Others have more oily skin that is difficult to scan by modernfinger scanners. For these guests, finger scanners do not work.

Another issue with finger scanners is that, for the approximately 7% ofguests for whom finger scanning does not work, there is no fast and easyway for the theme park operator to validate the guest's identity. Theemployee cannot look at a guest's finger and determine whether itmatches an earlier finger scan, and so the process of remediating afailed scan is typically some form of interrogation of the guest thatinvolves the showing of a photo identification and questions about thepurchase and previous use of the ticket to determine whether the personcurrently trying to use the ticket is the same person who used itpreviously. This interrogation of a guest who paid a lot of money for atheme park ticket and is in a rush to enter the theme park provides anegative impression and reduces guest satisfaction.

Another technology that is used to authenticate guests is photoreferencing. Photo referencing is where a photo is taken of a guest whenan entitlement is first redeemed and when the entitlement is redeemedagain an employee is able to access the previous photo to see if theperson currently trying to redeem the entitlement is the same person ornot. This technology also has several disadvantages. For example, itrequires employees to review photos of all guests entering a park whichcan be slow. Even if it adds only one additional second to eachtransaction, the front gate of a major theme park may process 10,000transactions in an hour and the added time requirements result in eitherlonger lines or the need to hire additional staff and purchaseadditional turnstiles. Second, having an employee check a photo ID foreach guest puts the employee in the position of challenging each guestwho enters the park and being an obstacle to entrance that must beovercome rather than putting them in the position of focusing on theguest and providing excellent guest service in an attempt to helpfacilitate the guest's entrance. Another disadvantage of the use of suchphoto referencing is that each guest interaction requires a team memberto access a photo of the guest. Today's consumers are very concernedabout privacy and the use of any personally identifiable information(PII), including photos. Therefore, the use of a photo that must beviewed by a human (and may be viewed by multiple humans in the vicinity)may cause unease for guests who are concerned about privacy. It is agoal of presently disclosed embodiments to reduce the use of guestimages to an absolute minimum.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to facial recognition systems. Inparticular, one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a systemthat is configured to build a biometric database that includes imagestaken in various lighting conditions so that authentication is morelikely to occur and throughput is thereby increased. Another embodimentof the present disclosure relates to a system that is capable of varyingthe thresholds at which authentication is determined responsive tochanges in various parameters in order to better control throughput.

A facial recognition system according to one embodiment includes acamera and a processor configured to receive image data from the camera.The image data includes a first image of a face of an individual. Theprocessor is further configured to determine a first value for alighting parameter associated with the first image. The processor isfurther configured to determine whether a collection of previouslyobtained images of the face of the individual in a biometric databaseincludes a second image having a second value for the lighting parameterthat meets a first predetermined condition relative to the first valuefor the lighting parameter. The processor is further configured to storethe first image in the biometric database along with the first value forthe lighting parameter when the collection of previously obtained imagesdoes not include a second image having a second value for the lightingparameter that meets the first predetermined condition relative to thefirst value for the lighting parameter.

A facial recognition system according to another embodiment includes acamera and a processor configured to receive image data from the camera.The image data includes a first image of a face of an individual. Theprocessor is further configured calculate a first score indicative ofthe likelihood that the face of the individual in the first image isidentical to the face of the individual in a second image from abiometric database. The processor is further configured to determinewhether the first score exceeds a dynamic match threshold and generate asignal indicating that the faces of the individual in the first andsecond images are identical if the first score exceeds the dynamic matchthreshold. The processor is further configured to adjust the dynamicmatch threshold based on values of one or more parameters.

A facial recognition system in accordance with the present inventionrepresents an improvement as compared to conventional systems. In oneembodiment, the storage of images of an individual taken in variouslighting conditions enables more accurate future authentication andimproves system throughput. In another embodiment, variation of thematch threshold for authentication allows control of system throughputto achieve various system goals.

The foregoing and other aspects, features, details, utilities, andadvantages of the present invention will be apparent from reading thefollowing description and claims, and from reviewing the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A clear understanding of the key features of presently disclosedembodiments may be had by reference to the appended drawings, whichillustrate methods and systems in accordance with present embodiments.It will be understood that these drawings depict specific exampleembodiments and, therefore, are not to be considered as limiting inscope with regard to other embodiments covered by the present claims.

FIG. 1 is a side-view of a facial recognition system including a guestinterface, a team member interface, and a pedestal upon which the systemis mounted in accordance with present embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the guest interface in accordance with presentembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the team member interface in accordance withpresent embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a team member override interfacein accordance with present embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a connection between a facialrecognition system and an entitlement database and biometric database towhich it is connected in accordance with present embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram illustrating operation of a facialrecognition system in accordance with the present embodiments; and,

FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram illustrating operation of a facialrecognition system in accordance with the present embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present disclosure may includea facial recognition system 1. The facial recognition system 1 mayinclude a guest interface 2 and a team member interface 3. The guestinterface 2 provides a feature through which a guest or user mayinteract with the system by presenting an entitlement such as a ticketto the entitlement scanner 4. In one embodiment of the presentdisclosure the entitlement scanner is a barcode reader which is capableof reading barcodes on guest entitlements such as theme park tickets,vouchers, or coupons. The barcodes may be displayed on any form ofphysical media including paper tickets, electronic devices such as asmart phone, or other media which may be scanned by a barcode scanner.In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the entitlement scanner maybe a radio frequency identification (RFID) scanner which is capable ofscanning any of a variety of types of RFID tags, including near-fieldcommunication (NFC) tags. The RFID tags contain unique codes which areused to identify an entitlement. Other embodiments of the entitlementscanner may be used to identify an entitlement as long as they can beused to read some form of media to identify the identifier of theentitlement. Such other forms of entitlement scanner may include, butare not limited to, magnetic stripe readers, non-linear barcode readers,Bluetooth scanners, etc.

The guest interface 2 may also include a camera 5. The camera 5 may beused to capture biometrics of an entitlement holder. In one embodiment,the camera 5 is a video camera capable of capturing multiple images of aguest each second. These images may be converted by facial recognitionsoftware executed by a processor in system 1 into biometric templatesthat biometric software can use to identify the guest whose face hasbeen captured. The processor may comprise a programmable microprocessoror microcontroller or may comprise an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC). The processor may include a central processing unit(CPU) and an input/output (I/O) interface through which the processormay receive a plurality of input signals and generate a plurality ofoutput signals including signals received from and sent to camera 5 andinterfaces 2, 3. The images may also be converted into images that canbe viewed by a human to verify the identity of the guest. Although theillustrated embodiment uses a video camera to capture guest images,other embodiments of capturing images for facial recognition may beused, including still cameras. Camera 5 may operate in one or more radiofrequency (RF) bands. In one embodiment, the camera operates in both thevisible light RF band and the near infrared (NIR) RF band. The use ofthe visible light RF band provides the advantage of creating colorimages that a human reviewer can view in a natural color palette visibleto human eyes, making it much easier for humans to remediatetransactions where the biometric software 14 is unable to make a match.The advantage of the use of the NIR RF band is the ability of the facialrecognition system 1 to operate in a multitude of different lightingconditions ranging from bright sunlight to absolute darkness. The use ofthe NIR RF band provides the additional advantage of allowing the facialrecognition system 1 to utilize NIR light emitting diodes (LED) toenable the LED lighting 10 to illuminate the guest, wherein the LEDlighting 10 will not be intrusive for the guest. It should be noted,however, that other embodiments of the camera 5 may include the abilityof the camera to capture images in one or more other RF bands either inaddition to, or instead of, the visible light and NIR bands.Furthermore, other embodiments of the camera 5 may operate in only oneRF band, or any number of multiple RF bands. In one embodiment, theoperation of the camera in only the NIR RF band.

While the illustrated embodiment uses a camera 5 to capture a facialimage of a guest that can be used for authenticating by facialrecognition software, other types of biometric identification could alsobe used in accordance with present embodiments. These other forms ofbiometric identification include, but are not limited to, finger scans,iris scans, hand geometry scans, vein geometry scans, voice biometricscans, or any of a multitude of other forms of biometric identification.Further, forms of biometric identification may be used individually orin combination. The use of more than one form of biometricidentification in combination is referred to as multi-factor biometricsand has the advantage of being more accurate in identifying a specificperson than a single biometric can in isolation. The purpose of thecamera 5 is to provide a feature for a guest to provide some form ofbiometric input to the facial recognition system 1. If other types ofbiometrics are used, other types of biometric input devices may be usedinstead of, or in addition to, a camera 5. The guest interface 2 will bedescribed in greater detail in reference to FIG. 2 below.

In one embodiment, the camera 5 is positioned near the entitlementscanner 4. The advantage of this arrangement is that when the guestscans their ticket they must be looking at the entitlement scanner 4 (itwould be nearly impossible for a guest to scan a ticket using theentitlement scanner 4 without looking at where they are placing theticket). Since the performance of facial recognition systems is highlydependent on users looking as directly at the camera as possible, thispositioning ensures that the guest is looking as near to the camera 5 aspossible and maximizes the chance of getting a high quality image fromthe guest without having to provide any instructions to the guestregarding what they should do.

One embodiment of the facial recognition system 1 may also include ateam member interface 3. The team member interface provides an interfacefor a team member, employee, or other representative of the entity thatfulfills an entitlement with an interface to be used to handleexceptions to the biometric authentication process. Exceptions mayinclude tickets that do not properly scan, failure of the biometricsystem to successfully authenticate a guest, or other failure of thesystem requiring human intervention. Although the team member interface3 is not strictly necessary, one embodiment will include the team memberinterface 3 to improve the overall performance of the system and enablea smooth mechanism for handling exceptions to the entitlementauthentication process. In one embodiment, the team member interface 3is an electronic tablet such as a PANASONIC TOUGHPAD, an APPLE WAD, or aMICROSOFT SURFACE. Such tablets are lightweight, portable, relativelyinexpensive, and generally possess the computing power to serve aseffective team member interface 3. They also typically have wirelessnetwork connectivity and batteries that will allow for several hours ofcontinuous use without the need to recharge or replace the battery. Inone embodiment, the team member interface 3 would be ruggedized so thatit may be used indoors and outdoors and so that it may withstand therigors of operation in a challenging physical environment that includesextreme high and low temperatures, varying weather conditions includingwind and rain, bumps and drops, and other environmental conditions thatmay break a non-ruggedized team member interface 3. Although someembodiments utilize an electronic tablet for the team member interface,many types of electronic devices could perform the function of the teammember interface 3 including, but not limited to, laptop computers,smartphones, smart watches, desktop computers, or custom builtelectronic devices. The team member interface will be described ingreater detail in relation to FIG. 3 below.

The facial recognition system 1 may also include a component orcomponents for supporting the system for ergonomic use of the system orfor making the system portable. One embodiment includes a pedestal 6upon which other elements of the system may be mounted and a base 7,which secures the pedestal 6 to the ground and keeps the facialrecognition system 1 steady. Brackets may be used to affix elements ofthe facial recognition system 1 to the pedestal 6. A guest userinterface bracket 8 may be used to affix the guest user interface 2 tothe pedestal 6. The guest interface bracket 8 may be adjustable tochange the physical positioning of the guest user interface 2, such asallowing it to change heights or to have the camera 5 change thedirection in which it is pointed. The adjustable positioning may includea fixed number of pre-set positions or it may include a range of motionwithin which the guest user interface 2 may be moved. Allowing the guestuser interface 2 to change positions has the advantage of allowingguests of different heights to use the same device while still beingable to stand near enough to the device to be able to interact with itat arm's length and to be in the field of view (FOV) of camera 5.

A team member interface bracket 9 may be used to affix the team memberinterface 3 to the pedestal 6. In one embodiment, the team memberinterface bracket 9 provides a feature to affix the team memberinterface 3 to the pedestal 6 and also a feature to securely hold theteam member interface 3 so that it cannot drop, be knocked out of theteam member interface bracket 9, or taken by unauthorized people.

In one embodiment, the pedestal 2 is a metal pole designed such thatobjects may be affixed thereto. However, other features for supportingthe other elements of the facial recognition system 1 include, but arenot limited to, brackets affixed to architectural elements (e.g., a wallor a column), a piece of furniture (e.g., a desk, a table, or a chair),a cart, or other features for supporting said elements. In oneembodiment, the pedestal 6 is made of metal such as stainless steel.However, other embodiments wherein the pedestal 6 consists of othermaterials are within the scope of the present disclosure, preferablywherein the other materials are rigid and/or durable. Such materials mayinclude, but are not limited to, plastic, wood, or other forms of metal.

In one embodiment, the base 7 is a circular disk that is made ofstainless steel and filled with concrete. This configuration provides awide base for stability and enough weight to keep the center of gravityof the overall facial recognition system 1 low to the ground. Othermaterials can also be used in accordance with present embodiments,including other forms of metal or plastic to form the structure of thebase 7 as well as other materials such as lead weights or sand toprovide weight.

Other embodiments utilize different form factors for the base 7altogether. In one embodiment, the base 7 consists simply of a metalsleeve that wraps around the pedestal 6 and enables it to fit snuglyinto holes in the ground. In another embodiment, the base 7 consists ofseveral wheeled spokes wherein the radius of the spokes is sufficient toprovide a broad, stable base for the facial recognition system 1 andwherein the wheels provide an easy form of mobility for the facialrecognition system 1. The base 7 could take many forms and still performthe desired function of securing the facial recognition system 1 to theground in a stable way in accordance with present embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 2, the guest interface 2 is shown from the front view(i.e., from the perspective of the guest who is interacting with theguest interface 2) and in greater detail than FIG. 1. The guestinterface 2 will be described herein with regard to how it is intendedthat the guest will interact with the device.

In one embodiment, the camera 5 is a video camera that takes multipleimages per second. In one embodiment, the camera 5 operates at 20 framesper second (FPS), however different cameras may be substituted thatoperate at faster or slower frame rates. Further, individual cameras maybe adjustable to operate at different speeds depending on how they areconfigured or depending on the use of the device. The advantage ofoperating at a higher frame rate is that the facial recognition system 1will capture more images of a guest over a given amount of time,increasing the probability that one of the images will be of a highenough quality to produce a match. An advantage of having the camera 5operate at a lower frame rate is that fewer frames per second willrequire less computing power and memory in order to process eachindividual image and to attempt to match each individual templateagainst the templates stored in the database. According to the NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a desired resolution ofthe camera 5 is a minimum of 480 pixels in the horizontal direction by600 pixels in the vertical direction. However, embodiments wherein thecamera 5 has a greater resolution such as 768×1024 or other resolutionswould be desired over the minimum resolution recommended by NIST.Generally speaking, the greater the resolution of the camera 5 thegreater the quality of the images it produces. However, the trade-off isthat greater resolution requires larger file sizes for any stored imagesand greater amounts of computing power to process the images. A widerange of resolutions could be used in various embodiments. Furthermore,present embodiments may include resolutions that are inferior to thatrecommended by NIST, however the quality of the facial recognition couldsuffer and make the facial recognition system 1 less effective.

NIST also recommends that the camera 5 use pixels with a pixel aspectratio of 1:1 and also recommends that the aspect ratio of the image be4:5 or 3:4. One embodiment uses a 16:9 widescreen panoramic aspect ratiothat is turned in a portrait orientation to provide the greatest rangeof capture in the vertical direction, thus enabling the facialrecognition system 1 to be more easily used by guests of varyingheights. Different aspect ratios may be used in accordance with presentembodiments.

When the guest approaches the guest interface 2, they will present theirentitlement to the entitlement scanner 4. The successful scan of aguest's entitlement will trigger a software process executed by aprocessor of system 1 for the guest interface 2 to capture the guest'sbiometrics and indicate to the guest what they should do. In oneembodiment, the camera 5 captures video at all times. However, in oneembodiment, the camera only capture images once an entitlement ispresented to the entitlement scanner 4. When the guest entitlement isscanned the facial recognition system 1 will begin to identify theguest's face in the images (i.e., frames) captured by the camera 5. Inone embodiment wherein the camera 5 is capturing video at all times, thefacial recognition system 1 will begin with frames captured before theentitlement is scanned, up to an amount of time determined by a pre-scantimer. In one embodiment, the pre-scan timer is set to a default of onesecond, but is configurable. If the entitlement is being used for thefirst time then the facial recognition system 1 will enroll the guest byassociating the guest's biometrics with the entitlement. If theentitlement is successfully scanned at time=T, then the facialrecognition system 1 will capture images of the guest from time T minusthe duration of the pre-scan timer until time T plus an enrollmenttimer. In one embodiment, the enrollment timer is set to a default ofthree seconds, but is configurable. The facial recognition system willtake all images captured during this interval and for each image it willgenerate a captured full-size image, a captured thumbnail image, and acaptured template. The captured full-size image is the raw imagecaptured by camera 5. The captured thumbnail image is a compressedversion of the captured full-size image, which has the benefit of havinga smaller file size, making it easier to store, to process, and totransmit across a network. The captured template is a biometric templatethat is a binary representation of quantitative features of the guest'sface.

One key advantage of having the guest scan their own entitlement ratherthan presenting their entitlement to a team member for the team memberto scan is that it changes the dynamic of the interaction. Rather thanthe employee challenging the guest for their entitlement and being thearbiter of whether the guest may enter or not, the facial recognitionsystem 1 is the arbiter of whether the guest can enter or not and theguest is able to perform simple self-service. This changes the role ofthe team member from being an obstacle to entrance to being afacilitator to entrance by placing the team member in the role ofassisting the guest and providing excellent guest service. Furthermore,from a team member perspective, it changes the nature of the interactionfrom being highly transactional where the team member is focused ongetting the entitlements and properly scanning them as quickly aspossible (with their attention thus focused on the entitlements ratherthan focused on the guest) to an interaction where the attention of theteam member is focused almost exclusively on the guest, which enablesthe team member to focus on providing excellent guest service.

The conversion of captured images to captured templates is performed bybiometric software executed by a processor in system 1. In oneembodiment, the biometric software is NeoFace software developed by NECCorporation. However, there are many biometric software products madethat perform facial recognition and that other biometric softwareproducts may be used instead of NeoFace software. Further, in oneembodiment, the biometric software is stored and runs on the team memberinterface 3. However, the biometric software could be stored and/or runin other locations such as on other hardware or storage locations,including in the cloud, in accordance with present embodiments.

Following conversion of the captured images, the facial recognitionsystem 1 will determine which image or images of the guest are of thehighest quality and will upload them to a biometric database 14, whichis described in more detail regarding FIG. 5 below. The quality of theimages is determined automatically by the biometric software and thequality measurements are quantitative scores that predict the likelihoodthat the templates will be able to successfully match during futuretransactions. The captured full-size images, captured thumbnails, andcaptured templates that are uploaded to the biometric database 14 becomestored full-size images, stored thumbnails, and stored templatesrespectively. Once the facial recognition system 1 has uploaded thedesired files to the biometric database 14 it will permanently deleteall captured full-size templates, captured thumbnails, and capturedtemplates from the current transaction.

In one embodiment, stored full-size images, stored thumbnails, andstored templates are only held in the biometric database 14 until theend of the validity of the entitlement; after the entitlement hasexpired the biometric database 14 will delete all stored full-sizeimages, stored thumbnails, and stored templates associated with theexpired entitlement. An advantage of this automatic deletion process isthat it protects guests' personally identifiable information by storingit for only the minimum amount of time necessary to fulfill the purposeof its capture. In one embodiment, stored full-size images, storedthumbnails, and stored templates may be kept in the biometric databasebeyond the expiration of the entitlement. Generally, this would be donefor the purposes of auditing past transactions (e.g., for a manager toreview the overrides performed by a team member to ensure that the teammember had only performed overrides for stored thumbnails that lookedsimilar to captured thumbnails), for improvement of the technology (forexample, reviewing failed matches to see the images involved to see ifimprovements to software and/or hardware could increase the likelihoodof valid matches being performed), for training, or for other purposes.

If, instead, the entitlement has been previously used then the facialrecognition system 1 will contact the biometric database to obtain allstored templates associated with the presented entitlement. The facialrecognition system 1 will concurrently begin processing images startingat time T minus the pre-scan timer and converting said images tocaptured templates. All captured templates will be compared to allstored templates using biometric software and for each pair thebiometric software will calculate a score that is associated with thelikelihood that the two compared templates are of the same person. Thescores for each pair of compared templates will be stored. If any of thescores exceeds a pre-determined match threshold then the entitlementholder will be considered to have been authenticated. In one embodiment,a second threshold called an average match threshold can be set to apre-determined value that will typically be lower than the matchthreshold. If at any time no match scores exceed the match threshold buta pre-configured number of scores (e.g., the default pre-configurednumber of scores may be three but may also be configurable to otherinteger values) exceed the average match threshold then the entitlementholder will be considered to have been authenticated.

One objective of present embodiments is to provide a facial recognitionsystem 1 which has very fast transaction speeds and very few exceptionsrequiring team member intervention to remediate failed matchingtransactions. This results in high levels of throughput for the system,enabling lines to move quickly and guests and team members to besatisfied with the system. To achieve this aim, in one embodiment, thematch threshold and average match threshold can be set at a level thatprovides the desired throughput. For example, if the desired throughputrequires that only 5% of transactions result in a team memberremediation of a failed match, but the current match threshold andaverage match threshold result in 10% of transactions requiringremediation, then the match threshold and/or the average match thresholdcan be reduced to increase the likelihood that the software will matchtwo templates, thus reducing the number of remediations. A trade-off isthat the use of lower thresholds may increase the likelihood of falsepositives, which means that two different people may look sufficientlyalike to be able to redeem the same entitlement. The trade-off in howthe thresholds may be set is between speed of transactions andfraudability (potential for being defrauded) of the system.

In one embodiment, the facial recognition system 1 provides the abilityto set the match threshold and the average match threshold to levelsthat optimize the desired balance between throughput and fraudability ofthe system. Thus, and with reference to FIG. 6, a processor in system 1may be configured to perform a number of steps as described aboveincluding the steps 30, 32 of receiving image data from camera 5 andcalculating scores indicative of the likelihood that the face of theindividual in the image obtained from camera 5 is identical to the faceof an individual in any of a collection of previously obtained imagesstored in biometric database 14. The processor may further adjust thematch threshold and average match threshold in step 34 responsive to avariety of parameters that may be indicative of the level of actual oranticipated use of system 1 (and thereby affect throughput) and/orpotential fraudulent use of an entitlement or fraudulent attempt to gainaccess to a location, facility, attraction or resource. The parametersmay, for example, include the calendar date or time of day. In the caseof a theme park, a greater number of visitors may be expected on certaindates (e.g., weekends or summers) relative to others and at certaintimes (e.g., near the opening time for the park) relative to others.Another parameter may be the actual or anticipated state of the weather.In the case of a theme park, inclement weather may decrease the numberof visitors such that throughput is less of a concern. Other parametersmay include the frequency of use of system 1 or performance speed ofsystem 1. If system 1 is under intense use and/or is experiencing slowperformance, for example, a need may exist to lower thresholds to insureadequate throughput. Another parameter may be the number of times thatthe dynamic match threshold is not exceeded. If too many attempts atauthentication fail, the thresholds may again need to be lowered toinsure adequate throughput. Another parameter may comprise the number ofuses or period of use of an entitlement. The thresholds may be increasedor lowered if the number of uses indicates fraud is more or less likelyto occur or if the attempted use occurs during a time period when fraudis more or less likely to occur. Thus, the thresholds may have differentvalues during different periods of validity for an entitlement. Otherpotential parameters may include previous successful or failedauthentications associated with a particular entitlement including ahistory of fraud associated with an entitlement, attraction orfacility/park, location, resource or system 1, a history of overrides offailed authentications associated with any of the foregoing, the type ofentitlement, attraction, facility/park, location or resource (e.g., somemay require greater security than others; in the case of a theme park,some attractions may set thresholds to permit repeat access or prohibitrepeat access and some attractions (e.g., more popular attractions) mayset higher thresholds than others), and usage patterns and levelsassociated with any of the foregoing. The processor in system 1 mayadjust the thresholds in a variety of ways including adjusting bypredetermined amounts or amounts determined responsive to a formulataking into account one or more of the parameters. The processor mayfurther limit the amount of adjustment by prohibiting adjustment beyondpredetermined limits.

As discussed above, once the match threshold and average matchthresholds are set, the processor may, in step 36, determine whether anyof the previously calculated scores exceeds the match threshold and, ifso, generate a signal indicating a match (i.e., that the faces of theindividual in the image captured by camera 5 is identical to a storedimage) in step 38. If none of the scores exceed the match threshold, theprocessor may, in step 40, determine whether any of the scores exceedthe lower, average match threshold and, if so, whether the number ofscores exceeding the average match threshold exceed a predeterminednumber in step 42. If so, the processor may again generate an indicationof a match. Although the embodiment described hereinabove focuses onparticular comparisons and adjustments to particular threshold values,it should be understood that alternative embodiments are within thescope of these teachings. For example, the above embodiment compares asingle image of the face of an individual captured by camera 5 against acollection of previously obtained images in database 14. System 1 maycompare multiple captured images of the face of the individual againstthe collection of previously obtained images and may have adjustablethresholds relating to the number of matches that must be indicated asbetween any one captured image and the collection of previously obtainedimages and/or as between more than one captured image and the collectionof previously obtained images. System 1 may also require that, in acomparison of multiple captured images to the collection of previouslyobtained images, an adjustable number of captured images must exceed oneor more adjustable thresholds and further, that the adjustable number ofcaptured images comprise a number of consecutive images or a numberwithin an adjustable range of consecutive images.

The biometric software will continue to compare all stored templates toall captured templates until either a successful match is made or untila match timer has expired. The match timer is a pre-determined amount oftime after which, if the software has not yet made a successful match,it will be considered that the software was unable to authenticate theentitlement holder to the entitlement. In one embodiment, the matchtimer is pre-determined to be two seconds, but is configurable to otheramounts of time. If the match timer is reduced then the likelihood of amatch for any individual transaction is decreased, but the averagetransaction speed is likely to be reduced. The match timer may be set toan amount of time that is based on the amount of time that it takes formatches to take place. For example, if successful matches almost nevertake longer than one second then the match timer can be set to onesecond. If the match timer expires without the biometric software havingmade a successful match then the entitlement holder will be consideredto have not been authenticated.

In one embodiment, the guest interface 2 includes LED lighting 10. TheLED lighting 10 consists of one or more LEDs that, when lit, illuminatethe guest's face to improve the quality of the images captured by camera5. The LED lighting may operate in the visible light spectrum, in theNIR spectrum, and/or in other RF spectrum as appropriate for theapplication. In one embodiment, the LED lighting 10 is only active inthe NIR spectrum, which when combined with the camera 5 also operatingin the NIR spectrum enables the LED lighting to effectively illuminatethe guest's face without being intrusive to the guest. The LED lightingmay consist of multiple LEDs in almost any configuration. In oneembodiment, the LED lighting consists of multiple LEDs configured in aring around the camera 5. Such LEDs can be easily found andinexpensively purchased from suppliers of photography equipment. In oneembodiment, the LED lighting would consist of multiple LEDs configuredin an array that is spread as evenly as possible across the front of theguest interface 2. Such a configuration would provide a more evenlydistributed amount of illumination across the guest's face and wouldimprove the quality of the captured images, however it may requirecustom developed hardware which would increase the cost of the device.In one embodiment, the front of the guest interface 2 is concave, withthe LED lighting 10 being evenly distributed across sections of theguest interface 2. This configuration improves the even lighting of theguest face which increases the quality of the captured images andtemplates. In one embodiment, the LED lighting 10 may be covered by adiffusing material that allows light to pass through while spreading thelight more evenly across a guest's face. Covering the LED lighting 10with a diffusing material has the further advantage of hiding the LEDlighting 10 and making the guest interface 2 more attractive.

In one embodiment, the guest interface 2 also includes a progressindicator 11. The progress indicator 11 consists of a series of LEDlights that, when illuminated, communicate to the guest the progressthat the facial recognition system 1 is making. The progress indicator11 may consist of a multiple rectangular bars that are illuminated byLEDs and situated between the entitlement scanner 4 and the camera 5,wherein each bar is of a different length and wherein the longest bar isnearest the entitlement scanner 4 and the bars decrease in length untilthe shortest bar is nearest the camera 5. The LEDs may be of any color,or multiple colors. In one embodiment, the LEDs may be blue or white. Inone embodiment, the LED bar nearest the entitlement scanner 4 is alwayson, indicating to the guest where to present their entitlement. Once theentitlement has been scanned the LED bars of the progress indicator 11will light up in order, starting with the bar nearest the entitlementscanner 4 and lighting up each successive LED bar until all LED barshave been illuminated. In one embodiment, the amount of time that ittakes for all LED bars to be illuminated is equal to the enrollmenttimer when guests are enrolling or equal to the match timer forsubsequent transactions. Other forms of illumination may be used inplace of LEDs, such as incandescent bulbs, computer screens or monitors,liquid crystal displays (LCD), or other forms of illumination inaccordance with present embodiments. Further, other forms of a series ofLEDs could be used to signal progress in accordance with presentembodiments. For example, the LEDs could be configured horizontally orvertically in the form of a progress bar. In one embodiment, the LEDsare configured as concentric circles around the camera 5 and becomeilluminated starting with the outermost LED and moving toward theinnermost LED. This configuration has the additional advantage ofdrawing the guest's attention toward the camera 5, which improves theability to capture high quality guest images. In one embodiment, a videoscreen could be incorporated into the guest interface 2, allowingdifferent images or videos to be displayed on the guest interface 2.There are myriad ways to display indicators of progress, transactionsuccess, and transaction failure on the guest interface 2 in accordancewith present embodiments.

For an enrollment transaction, at the conclusion of the enrollment timerthe progress indicator 11 should no longer be illuminated and insteadthe success indicator 12 should be illuminated. For a match transaction,when a match is successfully made by the biometric software, the successindicator 12 should be illuminated. In one embodiment the successindicator 12 is in the shape of an up arrow and is illuminated withgreen LEDs. However, in accordance with present embodiments, theindicator may be of any shape that communicates to the guest that theirtransaction has been successful and that they may continue. Further, theindicator could also be of any color.

In one embodiment, the guest interface 2 also includes an exceptionindicator 13. The exception indicator 13 is used to signal to the guestthat their transaction has not been successful and that they shouldawait further instructions from the team member. In one embodiment, theexception indicator 13 is configured as a ring around the LED lighting10 and is illuminated using yellow LEDs. However, in accordance withpresent embodiments, the exception indicator 13 could be locatedanywhere on the guest interface 2 where it would be visible to theguest, that it could be illuminated using various devices ofillumination other than LEDs, that it could be in any shape, and thatthe exception indicator 13 could be any color. In one embodiment, theexception indicator 13 could be red and/or be shaped in an octagonalshape to give the appearance of a stop sign.

In one embodiment, speakers 20 may be incorporated into the guestinterface 2 in order to provide audio signals to the guest and to theteam member operating the facial recognition system 1. The speakers 20may be sufficiently loud to be heard in a noisy theme park environmentbut not so loud that they are able to damage the ears of the guest orthe team member. In one embodiment, the speakers 20 will have featuresfor the volume to be adjusted by the team member operating the facialrecognition system 1. The features could include a manual knob or dialor buttons on the side of the device or the features could be includedas part of the user interface in the guest interface 2. In oneembodiment, different audio signals are produced when different outcomesoccur with the facial recognition system 1. For example, an enrollmentmay produce one audio signal whereas a successful match may produce asecond audio signal and a failed match may produce a third audio signal.Present embodiments may have additional audio signals for failed ticketscans or other exception conditions. In one embodiment, the specificsound, intensity, and duration of each audio signal may be configurableand audio signals can be added or removed by means of simple softwaremodifications to the guest interface 2. In one embodiment, the guestinterface 2 contains two speakers 20. However, in accordance withpresent embodiments, any number of speakers may be used as long as theyare able to convey the necessary audio signals to the guest and/or theteam member. In one embodiment, no speakers 20 are used.

In one embodiment, the guest interface 2 may be configured such that ifa guest scans an entitlement which may be fraudulent the guest interface2 and the various indicators on it (e.g., the progress indicator 11,success indicator 12, exception indicator 13, and/or the speakers 20)will not do anything, making it appear to the guest as though the ticketis not being scanned properly. This feature is advantageous because iffraud is suspected the team member should confiscate the guestentitlement if possible. If the guest interface 2 indicates to the guestthat the entitlement is not valid then the guest may leave and take thefraudulent entitlement with them. Having the guest interface 2 give theappearance that there is simply a problem with the entitlement beingscanned gives a team member operating the device the opportunity torequest that the guest hand them the ticket so that the team member canhelp the guest to perform the ticket scan. Once the team member hastaken possession of the entitlement if they determine that theentitlement is fraudulent then the entitlement is easily confiscated.

Referring to FIG. 3, a front view of the team member interface 3 isshown. In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 is a tablet suchas a PANASONIC TOUGHPAD. FIG. 3 shows the user interface which isdisplayed on the tablet using software. In one embodiment, the userinterface includes a battery life indicator 14, which displays theamount of life that is remaining in the battery that powers the teammember interface 3.

In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 also contains an onlineindicator 15. The online indicator 15 provides an indicator to theperson operating the team member interface 3 whether the tablet isonline or offline. If the operator is aware of the networked status ofthe device it can help them with troubleshooting any problems with thedevice.

In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 includes a locationindicator 16. The location indicator 16 shows which location the teammember interface 3 is configured for. In a theme park setting, thelocation indicator may be used to indicate which attraction the teammember interface 3 is being used at. Because conditions at differentattractions may vary, it would be advantageous for certain settings,such as lighting levels of the LED lighting 10, to be different atdifferent attractions. Other configurations may also be configurablebased on the location where the facial recognition system 1 is beingused, such as timers or other configurations of hardware or software. Inaddition, in one embodiment, the team member interface 3 is able tocommunicate with the guest interface 2 and by setting the location inthe team member interface 3 entitlement scans can be tracked by thelocation where they took place.

In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 includes a statusindicator 17. The status indicator 17 is an area of the screen of theteam member interface 3 wherein the status of the most recententitlement scan can be displayed in a format that will make it easy forthe team member who is operating the team member interface 3 to quicklysee and understand the status. For example, in one embodiment, if themost recent transaction was a successful enrollment or a biometric thenthe status indicator 17 may be filled in with bright green. If the mostrecent transaction was a failed biometric match or if there was aproblem with the entitlement scan (such as an invalid entitlement) thenthe status indicator 17 may be filled with bright yellow. And if themost recent transaction involved an entitlement which may be fraudulentthe status indicator 17 may be filled with bright red. The statusindicator 17 may also display words (such as error codes, descriptionsof error codes, and/or instructions) or other symbols to the teammember.

In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 may also contain a ticketlookup tool 18. The ticket lookup tool 18 provides a tool to the teammember for them to be able to scan an entitlement or manually enter theidentifier of the entitlement and look up the usage history of theentitlement and other relevant information about the entitlement. Theticket lookup tool 18 may include a text box for manually entering theentitlement identifier and a button for the team member to click tocomplete the input.

In one embodiment, the team member interface 3 may also contain a scanhistory indicator 19. The scan history indicator 19 displays the resultsof the previous entitlement scans. The number of previous entitlementscans that are displayed may be configurable. In one embodiment, thedefault number of previous entitlement scans is ten. The scan historyindicator 19 may display information about the entitlement and the scanincluding the entitlement identifier, whether the entitlement scan wassuccessful, where the last scan of the entitlement took place, etc.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, in one embodiment, the team memberinterface is configurable such that the lighting level of the screen canbe increased or reduced. The lighting level may be configurable by theteam member who is operating the device. This feature allows the teammember to adjust the lighting level depending on whether the team memberinterface is being used in a dark location or a bright location.Furthermore, in outdoor locations the amount of ambient lighting maychange during the course of the day and night, thus it would bedesirable for the team member to be able to adjust the lighting level ofthe screen of the team member interface 3 to ensure that the screen isalways clearly visible.

Referring to FIG. 4, one embodiment includes a team member overrideinterface 21. The team member override interface 21 may include a windowthat pops up from the team member interface 3 if the biometric softwareis unable to authenticate the guest that scanned the entitlement. Whenthe biometric software is unable to authenticate the holder of anentitlement then the team member who is operating the facial recognitionsystem 1 must make a decision whether or not the guest presenting theentitlement matches the guest that enrolled with the entitlement. Whilethe biometric software compares captured templates to stored templatesto determine matches, the team member must compare a captured thumbnailwith a stored thumbnail and make a determination whether the two peopleshown are the same. At the expiration of the match timer if no match hasbeen made then the team member interface 3 will display a “no matchfound” status in the status indicator 17. This will alert the teammember that they must review the stored thumbnail to validate theentitlement. At this point a button will become available in the teammember interface 3 that will give the team member the opportunity toreview the stored thumbnail. It is important that the stored thumbnailnot be displayed until the team member is ready to view it in order toprevent the unnecessary display of guest images. In addition, the guestinterface 2 will use the exception indicator 13 to signal to the guestthat there has been an exception and they should wait for instructionsfrom the team member.

Once the team member has hit the button to allow them to view the storedthumbnail, the team member override interface 21 will pop up and willdisplay two images. Although the biometric software will not have beenable to make a match, the facial recognition system 1 will determinewhich pair of stored template and captured template have the highestmatching score. The team member override interface 21 will then displaythe stored thumbnail and captured thumbnail associated with the highestmatching score. The stored thumbnail will be displayed as the storedthumbnail display 23 and the captured thumbnail will be displayed as thecaptured thumbnail display 22. The team member override interface willalso display two buttons for the team member to select from. The firstis the accept button 24, which allows the team member to indicate thatthe stored thumbnail matches the captured thumbnail. The second is thereject button, which allows the team member to indicate that the storedthumbnail does not match the captured thumbnail. As soon as eitherbutton is selected, the team member override interface will disappear(and the two displayed thumbnails with it) to prevent any unnecessarydisplay of guest images. If the team member has selected the acceptbutton 24 then the guest interface 2 will light the success indicator 12to indicate to the guest that they may proceed. In addition, the teammember interface 3 will display the new transaction in the scan historyindicator 19 and will show a successful transaction in the statusindicator 17. If the team member selects the reject button 25 then theguest interface 2 will illuminate the exception indicator 13 to indicateto the guest that the transaction has not been successful and the teammember should verbally indicate to the guest that they are not theproper holder of their entitlement and refuse to allow them access. Inaddition, the team member interface 3 will add the failed transaction tothe scan history indicator 19 and will display the indicator for afailed biometric scan in the status indicator 17.

Referring to FIG. 5, a network view of the facial recognition system inaccordance with present embodiments is shown, including the differentcomponents of the system that are in different locations. For largerdeployments of the facial recognition system 1 where more than onelocation must be covered, present embodiment may provide the ability toprovide facial recognition capabilities at multiple locations. Multiplefacial recognition systems 1 may be connected together by use of anetwork 26. The network 26 may be a wired network such as an Ethernetnetwork or it may be a wireless network using some form of wirelesscommunications such as WiFi or a public cellular network. In oneembodiment, the facial recognition systems 1 connects to a wiredbackbone network by way of a WiFi network. Each of the facialrecognition systems 1 is able to connect over to the network 26 to abiometric database 14 and an entitlement database 27. The entitlementdatabase 27 stores information about entitlements, including the uniqueidentifier for each entitlement and the validity and expirationinformation for each entitlement. Entitlements must be valid or else abiometric check is not necessary. The biometric database 14 storesrecords associated with each entitlement. The record is based on theunique identifier for each entitlement and the biometric database 14stores all of the stored full-size images, stored thumbnails, and storedtemplates that are associated with each entitlement. Although otherinformation may be stored in the biometric database, in one embodiment,no information (other than stored full-size images and storedthumbnails) is stored in the biometric database 14 that can be used toidentify a person such as a name or other identifying information. Allof the biometric information stored in the biometric database 14 is onlyassociated with a unique identifier for an entitlement.

Present embodiments may perform biometric authentication in both indoorsand outdoors locations. This means that present embodiments may be ableto match guest images in a wide variety of lighting conditions rangingfrom very dark to bright sunlight. Captured templates are more likely tomatch with stored templates if both templates were created in a similarlighting level. In order to ensure that the biometric database 14contains templates from as many different lighting levels as possible,in one embodiment, the facial recognition system 1 captures guesttemplates and calculates a lighting score for each template that is ameasure of the ambient lighting in the environment where the template iscaptured. This lighting score can be determined by having the biometricsoftware evaluate the overall lighting level in the guest images fromcamera 5, or the biometric software may evaluate the lighting level inthe background of the guest images, or the biometric software mayevaluate the lighting level of the guest face in the guest image, orsome form of lighting sensor may be communicatively connected to thefacial recognition system 1 such that when guest images are captured bythe camera 5 the ambient lighting level determined by the lightingsensor would be associated with the template.

Regardless of how the lighting score is determined, in one embodiment,each stored template in the biometric database 14 is associated with alighting score and each record in the biometric database 14 isconfigured so as to store templates that represent a range of differentlighting levels instead of only storing the highest scoring templatesregardless of lighting condition. In one embodiment, lighting scores arecalculated numerically and each range of values would correspond to alighting category. In one embodiment, the categories are “dark”,“medium”, and “bright”. A certain number of templates stored in eachrecord of the biometric database 14 are reserved for each lightingcategory, where the highest scoring templates within each lightingcategory are stored. In one embodiment, each record in the biometricdatabase 14 can store up to 20 templates and six templates are reservedfor dark templates, eight templates are reserved for medium templates,and six templates are reserved for bright templates. In accordance withpresent embodiments, the number of lighting categories may be increasedor decreased depending on the needs of the specific application.Furthermore, the number of templates and thumbnails that could be storedin each record in the biometric database 14 may vary based on variousfactors including the specific application, the number of lightinglevels to be used, the storage capacity of the biometric database 14,the storage capacity of the team member interface 3, and the capacity ofthe network 26.

Referring to FIG. 7, a processor in system 1 may again be configured toperform a number of the steps as described above. In particular, theprocessor may perform the step 44 of receiving image data from camera 5including an image of the face of an individual captured by camera 5. Instep 46, the processor may determine a value for a lighting parameterassociated with the image. The lighting parameter may comprise a degreeor intensity of luminance in the image or a level of contrast in theimage. As noted above, the parameter value may be determined by, forexample, analyzing the image itself or using a lighting sensor. In step48, the processor determines whether a collection of previously obtainedimages of the face of the individual in biometric database 14 alreadyincludes an image having the same or similar value for the lightingparameter. The processor may compare the images to see if the value ofthe lighting parameter associated with the captured image from camera 5meets a predetermined condition relative to the previously obtainedimages. For example, the processor may see if the values are equal orwithin a certain range or if the value of the captured image falls withthe same range of values as the value of a previously obtained image. Ifthe comparison indicates that the collection of previously obtainedimages does not include an image having the same or similar value forthe lighting parameter (depending on the scope of stored imagesdesired), the processor may perform several steps to add the capturedimage to the stored images including the steps 50, 52 of identifyingquantitative features of the face of the individual in the capturedimage that facilitate biometric validation and creating a biometrictemplate of the image using those qualitative features provided thefeatures meet predetermined requirements for a useful image/template.Thereafter, the processor may, in step 54, store and associated thecaptured image, biometric template and lighting parameter value in thebiometric database 14. In some cases, it may be desirable to maintainmultiple images having the same or similar values for a lightingparameter. Therefore, even if the processor determines the values forthe parameter in the captured image and stored image or images are thesame or similar, the processor may be configured to perform the step 56of determining the number of images in the collection of previouslyobtained images having the same or similar value for the lightingparameter and to then perform steps 50, 52, 54 as long as the numberdoes not exceed a predetermined number. In cases where there are asufficient number of images in biometric database 14 having the same orsimilar values for a lighting parameter, it may still be desirable tocompare images to insure that the best images are maintained. Therefore,even if the processor determines that there are a sufficient number ofimages in database 14 having the same or similar values for a lightingparameter, the processor may be configured to perform the step 58 ofidentifying a low scoring image having the lowest qualitative scoreamong those images and, if the score is lower than the qualitative scoreof the captured image, to replace the stored image by deleting thestored image in step 60 and performing steps 50, 52, 54 for the capturedimage. In addition to managing the collection of images on database 14,processor may be configured to make use of the value of the lightingparameter during authentication. In particular, if the processordetermines in step 48 that the collection of previously obtained imagesin biometric database 14 already includes an image having the same orsimilar value for the lighting parameter, the processor may be furtherconfigured in step 62 to determine whether the image captured by camera5 meets one or more predetermined condition relative to the stored imageincluding conditions evidencing an match in the identity of theindividual in the two images. If so, the processor may be configured togenerate a signal indicative of a match in step 64.

One example of a possible use of present embodiments that is intended toexplain the features described above but not limit the scope of thedisclosure is that if a guest enrolls at a location where the ambientlighting is dark then the templates stored in the biometric database 14at the time of enrollment will all be stored as dark. If the guest laterredeems their entitlement at a location that is bright, the capturedtemplates will all be captured in a bright light level and compared bythe biometric software to stored templates that were captured previouslyin a dark light level, resulting in a reduced probability of thebiometric software being able to match and an increased probability thatthe team member operating the facial recognition system 1 will need tomanually verify the identity of the entitlement holder. However, the newcaptured templates will be stored in the biometric database 14 as brighttemplates. In this way, any subsequent transactions that take place indark or bright environments will have captured templates being comparedto stored templates from a similar lighting level, therefore increasingthe probability that the biometric software will be able to make amatch. Thus, one embodiment stores templates across a wide range ofpossible lighting conditions, making it more likely that guestsattempting to redeem entitlements will be able to do so regardless ofthe lighting conditions. In a sense, present embodiments may “learn” asthe guest performs multiple transactions what the guest looks like in avariety of different lighting conditions, thus improving performance themore frequently it is used.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to oneor more particular embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseof skill in the art that various changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A facial recognition system, comprising: acamera; a processor configured to: receive image data from the camera,the image data including a first image of a face of an individual;calculate a first score indicative of the likelihood that the face ofthe individual in the first image is identical to the face of theindividual in a second image from a biometric database; determinewhether the first score exceeds a dynamic match threshold; generate afirst signal indicating that the faces of the individual in the firstand second images are identical if the first score exceeds the dynamicmatch threshold; and, adjust the dynamic match threshold based on valuesof one or more parameters wherein the processor is further configuredto: calculate a second score indicative of the likelihood that the faceof the individual in the first image is identical to the face of theindividual in a third image from the biometric database; determinewhether the second score exceeds the dynamic match threshold; generate asecond signal indicating that the faces of the individual in the firstand third images are identical if the second score exceeds the dynamicmatch threshold.
 2. The facial recognition system of claim 1, furthercomprising an entitlement scanner configured to obtain entitlement datafrom an entitlement presented by the individual and wherein theprocessor is further configured to receive the entitlement data from theentitlement scanner and to obtain the second image from biometricdatabase based on the entitlement data.
 3. The facial recognition systemof claim 1 wherein the one or more parameters include a calendar date.4. The facial recognition system of claim 1 wherein the one or moreparameters include a time of day.
 5. The facial recognition system ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more parameters include a frequency of use ofthe facial recognition system.
 6. The facial recognition system of claim1 wherein the one or more parameters include a performance speed of thefacial recognition system.
 7. The facial recognition system of claim 1wherein the one or more parameters include a number of times that thedynamic match threshold is not exceeded.
 8. A facial recognition system,comprising: a camera; a processor configured to: receive image data fromthe camera, the image data including a first image of a face of anindividual; calculate a first score indicative of the likelihood thatthe face of the individual in the first image is identical to the faceof the individual in a second image from a biometric database; determinewhether the first score exceeds a dynamic match threshold; generate asignal indicating that the faces of the individual in the first andsecond images are identical if the first score exceeds the dynamic matchthreshold; and, adjust the dynamic match threshold based on values ofone or more parameters wherein the one or more parameters include aperformance speed of the facial recognition system.
 9. The facialrecognition system of claim 8 wherein the one or more parameters includea calendar date.
 10. The facial recognition system of claim 8 whereinthe one or more parameters include a time of day.
 11. The facialrecognition system of claim 8 wherein the one or more parameters includea frequency of use of the facial recognition system.
 12. The facialrecognition system of claim 8 wherein the one or more parameters includea number of times that the dynamic match threshold is not exceeded. 13.The facial recognition system of claim 8, further comprising anentitlement scanner configured to obtain entitlement data from anentitlement presented by the individual and wherein the processor isfurther configured to receive the entitlement data from the entitlementscanner and to obtain the second image from biometric database based onthe entitlement data.
 14. The facial recognition system of claim 13wherein the one or more parameters include a calendar date.
 15. Thefacial recognition system of claim 13 wherein the one or more parametersinclude a time of day.
 16. The facial recognition system of claim 13wherein the one or more parameters include a frequency of use of thefacial recognition system.
 17. The facial recognition system of claim 13wherein the one or more parameters include a number of times that thedynamic match threshold is not exceeded.